Rating: 
Summary: What Was Jack Thinking?
Review: I'm sorry to be so out of step with most other reviewers here but this movie is simply awful. The screenplay is sub-standard, the story is unnecessarily convoluted, and even the editing seems to be slipshod. Why Jack Nicholson chose to direct this movie is the biggest mystery of all. Watch "The Maltese Falcon" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: "It Never Goes Away"
Review: Jack Nicholson knew no one could ever equal the masterpice of Polanski's "Chinatown" so he didn't try. What he did make when he took over this troubled production from Robert Towne (Polanski still claims he re-wrote most of Chinatown) was a visually beautiful portrait of 1948 Los Angeles in a boom that is a meditation on the past and how it haunts us. From the smoke ring filled opening with Peggy Lee's "Don't Smoke in Bed" to Jo Stafford's "Haunted Heart" at the end Nicholson frames the colorful orange and blues of 1948 Los Angeles against the darker internal memories of the past. Gittes is a successful P.I. who works on divorce cases and plays golf. L.A. County is filled with orange groves created by the water so sought after in "Chinatown". But Gittes is about to learn you can never really forget the past. Los Angeles of 1948 is booming with housing going up everywhere. But just as in "Chinatown" nothing is ever enough. Oil is the new 'water' and some people will even kill for it. Harvey Keitel is great as the 'other' Jake and Perry Lopez is on hand once more as Gittes old 'pal' Lou Escobar. Some of the best exchanges in the film are between these two. Rueben Blades and Frederick Forest give nice support as does Richard Farnsworth as weathered oilman Earl Rawley. Madeline Stowe nearly steals the show as the outwardly prim and proper but inwardly frustrated (You're gonna make me aren't you) nymph Lillian Bodine. But it is Jake's meeting with the softly beautiful and vulnerable wife of the 'other' Jake that triggers something. Meg Tilly is terrific as Kitty Berman and Gittes can't quite understands why she gets him thinking about the past until he revisits it himself in the form of Kahn (James Hong), the Mulray's former servant. There is something about the flowers.... As things come full circle from the past to the present Gittes will have to revisit the past more than he wants to and in doing so will find all the closure he will ever get and maybe a chance to help Evelyn Mulray in a way he could not before. This is a great film that stands on it's own and is also a nice companion piece to the Noir masterpiece of "Chinatown". My favorite line from this film comes when Gittes rebukes a woman in a restaurant. He tells her, "I may be the town leper, but I'm the town leper with the most fingers". This is one you don't want to miss. It really is terrific and a must see for Nicholson fans.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Sequel
Review: Lots of great actors labour with a terrible plot and dialogue that doesn't make sense. Chinatown was mysterious, it stayed with you for months afterward. Two Jakes is boring - it took three trys to sit through the whole movie. My question was - can I leave now and come back later?
Rating:
Summary: As good a "period piece" as you will ever see
Review: Much has been made of the complicated plot (necessitated by Chinatown) but the acting and cinematography are so brilliant, it hardly matters. This IS L.A. in the 40s. Much, much better than L.A. Confidential. 'Cmon, with Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Eli Wallach and Richard Farnsworth this isn't amateur night.
Rating:
Summary: "Chinatown" through a glass, darkly
Review: Readers: take close note of that average customer rating above and dismiss the unfortunate choice of critical review at the top. I think in ten or twenty years this will be brought to the same high pedestal as "Chinatown". From the moment Jack takes note of Harvey's shoes, to the last inspired note of Jo Stafford, this is a work of high and detailed craftsmanship. The reason I rate this as the best sequel of all time is that the storyteller speaks with twenty years' older voice to us as his equally enriched contemporaries. He observes the nuance in human behavior we would appreciate, and he reveals the subtle qualities of light that reassert L.A.'s beauty. He also tells a more complex and engrossing story, apparently more intricate than reviewers like the one above could understand, but all the better to savor. For any of us in his generation, Jack has sent a beautiful memento of our earliest days. "Chinatown" was a perfect vintage, but "Jakes" is a perfect thirty-year-old brandy.
Rating:
Summary: God, please let Jack direct again....
Review: The best thing about this film is that it has the auteur sheen that Jack gives it. It's like a John Huston film, with a personal edge coming through....the only thing that bugged me was the young girl at the end....her face was too pretty. Did you notice the way the hills look when the car drives through them...see similarity to a woman?
Rating: 
Summary: Good Follow Up to CHINATOWN
Review: THE TWO JAKES is a good follow-up to CHINATOWN. The Characters and sets really make this movie. The story is just average but the period details are very good. Too bad Jerry Goldsmith did not compose the score but Jack's great style of directing makes up for quite a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Mystery
Review: The warm LA nights are suffocatingly thick with the perfume of hibiscus and carbon monoxide. The city is in the beginning of the post war boom and the rush is now for oil and expanding real-estate over water squeeze of the 30's. Along the cracked sidewalks where primordial tar oozes between the cracks a ghost still walks beside Private Eye, Jake Gittes.
In this well made sequel to "Chinatown" we are presented with the final chapter in the tragedy of Jake Gittes and Evelyn Mulwray. The film is meticulous in its attention to the post World War II Southern California setting. Stunning in the recreation of the period just as "Chinatown" was to the 1930's Los Angeles.
The convoluted Chandleresque story is intriguing and pulls one quickly back into the web of the old story. Jack Nicholson re-creates an older and somewhat wiser Jake Gittes with all the skill and ease of the master of his generation. To top it off he directs with ease and assuredness. It is a real treat to see him working here at the top of his form as he moves into middle age and mellows as an artist without losing his sting.
Harvey Keitel is the strong compelling center of the film in his appearance as the second Jake in the story. He is brilliant as a man hiding the truth on many levels. His eyes, as he listens to Gittes, glitter with pain and despair even as he tries to hid it from everyone including himself. His mix of toughness with heartbreaking vulnerability is fascinating to watch. He has never been better.
Meg Tilly is properly cool and distantly mysterious as Keitel's wife who holds the ultimate key to the mystery that haunts both the Jakes. Madeleine Stowe in a comic turn delivers a sharply funny performance as she bounces across the screen like a hopped up Rosalind Russell. She nearly steals the picture out from under everyone's noses.
Not the masterpiece that "Chinatown" was, none the less "The Two Jakes" is entertaining and a fine follow-up to the original. The film is worth seeing for the performances by all mentioned as well as the wonderful atmosphere of a long lost Los Angeles.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent sequel to Chinatown.
Review: This film was badly reviewed and did not do much better at the "Box Office." An excellent sequel to Chinatown. This story is as engaging and interesting as the original. The big surprise isn't who the bad guy turns out to be but who Jake Gittes has been dealing with all along. Keitel does an excellent job as supporting actor. There are times throughout this movie when you don't know if the the two "Jakes" are going to kill each other or become fast friends. The slow build up of grudging respect is interesting though and the plot, performances, and scenery keep you engaged. This is a must see if you liked Chinatown.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent sequel to Chinatown.
Review: This film was badly reviewed and did not do much better at the "Box Office." An excellent sequel to Chinatown. This story is as engaging and interesting as the original. The big surprise isn't who the bad guy turns out to be but who Jake Gittes has been dealing with all along. Keitel does an excellent job as supporting actor. There are times throughout this movie when you don't know if the the two "Jakes" are going to kill each other or become fast friends. The slow build up of grudging respect is interesting though and the plot, performances, and scenery keep you engaged. This is a must see if you liked Chinatown.
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